Blossom: Day Eleven, To Market To Market

A woman's work is never done.

Thursday 11 Frocktober

Outfit

• Grey tweed skirt, black turtleneck jumper, raincoat, beret, sensible shoes

 Menu

• Breakfast - porridge, coffee, fruit
• Lunch - soup, fruit, tea (yes, all the same as yesterday)
• Dinner - roast - oooooh! - and salad

Mood

• Dampened

A classic miserable rainy day, but I had to be out and about - back to the doctor's, and to get some serious grocery shopping done.

I always feel it's polite to look nice for the doctor (who is a delightful person) but you know: rainy day. I ended up digging out a wonderful ribbed turtleneck jumper and pairing it with a warm tweedy wool skirt. And I dug out my old trench raincoat. I felt very dramatic. And also warm, and dry - bonus.

I didn't have any hidden secret plans, firearms or baguettes.

I wear a lot of berets. They are comfortable, stay put in the wind and are very, very good at keeping your head warm and dry in the rain. There is the problem of beret-hair, but that can very easily be avoided by not bothering to take it off. Simple!

After the doctor it was time to do my grocery shopping. Nowadays it's almost impossible to avoid going into The Bad Place (you know, the one with the shopping trolleys and grumpy people and long queues) for things like loo roll and sugar. I always feel it's best to get that over and done with as quickly as possible, and then save up the nice bits for later.

The nice bits are my fresh food shopping. Fruit, vegetables, meat, cheese - that type of thing. I like to go to a little place near home that specialises in local and organic produce. It's always chock-full of delicious seasonal produce, and it always has little signs letting you know where the produce was grown. Although it is small, the staff are nice and the general air of the place is lovely - peaceful, especially compared to The Bad Place.

 In my forties-style gear and with my shopping basket, I did feel briefly as though I had stepped back in time. Gliding along, humming to the music, exchanging pleasantries with the other shoppers and staff and taking my sweet time selecting just what I wanted.

Look at these! Will I do mushroom soup, mushroom risotto, mushroom pie? All of the above?

Even the Dreaded Carrot doesn't seem so boring here. Look at them. Aren't they lovely?

(This is the last time until November you will encounter me being positive about carrots.)

This evening the Captain and mysef are going to visit friends who inform us they have been to Australia's Best ButcherTM and are in desperate need of our help in consuming their piece of roasting pork.

Of course we are springing to their aid. They are very dear friends who can always rely on us for this type of help; and also, off-ration roast.

After much discussion we reluctantly agreed to help our poor friends eat their magnificent off-ration roast pork.

(Artist's impression.)

It would be a poor friend who turned up at dinner without a little something to contribute.

In my case I decided on a salad which uses local, seasonal ingredients that I bought today, and is especially designed for eating with large amounts of meat (aw yeah).

I was far too eager to make the darn thing and get to the roast pork to take photos during my cooking, but I have a pic of the finished product.

Blossom's Spring Salad to have with roast meat

Steam some bunches of local, just picked asparagus until tender.
Steam some young, sweet garden peas until just tender.
Combine peas and asparagus with a salad of fresh lettuce, basil and fresh mint.
Add the best part: locally-made goat-milk feta cheese.

This is what you get:

LOOK! NO CARROTS!

I have made a little of my mustard-olive oil-sherry vinegar dressing to take separately, as I always prefer to dress a salad immediately before eating. Doesn't it look tasty and fresh?

I love Spring.

Even when it's hosing it down outside.

And now I'm going to eat lots of roast pork, so
Frock you later.
Blossom